Kuwait to declare soon results of DNA tests of remains found in Iraq -- diplomat

By Zaid Abu Shaiba KUWAIT, June 20 (KUNA) -- Kuwait will announce soon results of DNA tests of human remains found recently in southern Iraq and whether they belong to Kuwaiti prisoners of war or missing persons, said a Kuwaiti diplomat on Thursday.
Assistant Foreign Minister for International Organizations Affairs Minister Plenipotentiary Nasser Al-Hayen made the statement to KUNA on the sidelines of partaking in a ceremony marking World Refugee Day held by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee in Kuwait.
Upon directives from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Foreign Ministry had taken charge of the National Committee for Missing and Prisoners of Wars Affairs (NCMPA), he said.
He stressed that the ministry would follow up, in accordance with relevant mechanisms, work to identify the human remains recently found in southern Iraq.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) tripartite commission tasked with resolving the issue of the Kuwaiti prisoners of war announced earlier in the day the discovery of human remains "thought to belong to Kuwaiti civilians and war prisoners".
The commission said the remains had been unearthed completely and would be analyzed by DNA and matched with DNA of relatives of Kuwaitis who went missing during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. (end) zh.tb.hm